Need help - Notarem 8x32 (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone.
I've been looking to buy small, light but optically good bino for some time now. BF has been of tremendeous help. Just today bought Zeiss Notarem 8x32 (seems to be from 1981). I really am bino rookie, as I never owned one. And now, looking through it, something just isn't OK. It gives me this funny feeling, like they are not in perfect collimation I assume, but not really sure what exactly is the case. Looking into the source of light a bit sideways reveals something on internal lenses. Is the lens damaged or is this something else (mold)? Also, when I shake them something rattles on the inside, like being loose. Can it be removed/repaired? Please check attached photo and advise.
They do smell terribly like being in some humid place for a looong time. They were actually some guys heritage and he didn't have any use for them, so he sold them quite cheap.

It looks like actinomyces (but it isn't, since it is visible with naked eye). Does it smell rotten, like cheese or something?

kkokkolis said:

Does it smell rotten, like cheese or something?

Click to expand...

Not really. Only like it's been in rally damp basement for a long time.

This should be fungus hyphes or glass cracks. The "cellar" smell probably means fungus. You need professional opening, cleaning, draining, closing and aligning.

Hi,

yes, looks like fungus - cracks would look different. But with fungus and maybe out of collimation... I hope you didn't pay a lot for those... you want these to be cleaned and collimated professionally before they are any use.

You can check collimation by setting the diopter way off - maximal fuzziness for the right eye. Then you watch a bright star or far away light at night and use the focus until you see the light sharp and pointlike in your left eye. Now you should see a bright point with a disc around it. The point should be in the middle of the disc if you bin is in collimation.
Your brain tends to match the pictures if your bins are slightly out of collimation (which gives a nice headache after some time) so it has to be fooled by making one picture blurry.

Joachim

That is a fungus growing inside, looks like a spider web. It sounds like these will need to
be sent in and serviced. Contact Zeiss, and I do hope they will service them for you.
Good luck.

Jerry

Hi,

Zeiss probably won't help as the Notarem is a Carl Zeiss Jena bin not Zeiss West. The closest you can get is Docter Optics, which took over CZJ production after german unification but I'm not sure if they still do service for these. Asking however doesn't hurt.

Joachim

Huh,

I thought I got myself nice little bino fairly cheap (65 EUR), but it turns out, I'm going to have to invest a little bit more into it, before using it as intended |^|

Thank you everyone for useful replies.

jring, is this the one? http://www.docter-germany.de/en/contact.html

Hi,

65€ seems ok for the state they're in - good ones start at 300€ on fleabay. And yes, that seems to be the Docter Optics contact page.

Regards,

Joachim

I received reply from Analytik Jena AG (Docter Germany) to send the bino in, so they can take a look at it and estimate the repair cost.

I took it apart yesterday. Lenses/prisms definitely need thorough cleaning (dust, fungus, also some kind of mist - thin film on it) and it needs to be set up. I confirmed that it's out of collimation.

Attached are some photos of the "guts", if anyone is interested
Also I noticed some pencil letters on it, which are not mine. Could it be from the production or more likely they have already been worked on (repaired). Will keep you informed as I progress with this

I hope that your taking the binocular apart won't invalidate any long-term warranty?

Pencil marks on optics are very common. They are marked by the optical worker either to know which optic goes where, or as alignment marks. These are common on astronomical telescopes, where the best position is marked on both optical elements so when these are disassembled they can be put back correctly.

With my old refractor, I found that the elements had rotated by themselves after decades of use, and I put them back where they should be. The best position was found by the old fashioned worker just by eyesight alone.

When the elements are not marked it is often the case that repairers who do not know the optical instrument reassemble them incorrectly.
I had this with half a dozen Leica Colorplan lenses and also with eyepieces for a Questar telescope. This meant that they were sold very cheaply as they didn't work, i.e. they didn't produce a sharp image. With the five element, I think, Leica lenses I guessed the correct positions by rotating the elements and assembling them in the correct order. And once I had reassembled the eyepieces in the correct order and the correct position the Questar telescope worked well.

On the back of a 10 inch reflecting mirror there were Greek letters and Greek words. I took this to the local Greek church and the person in charge told me that it was a biblical passage that the mirror maker had put on the back of the mirror. I found out who the mirror maker was. He also apparently sometimes used to write Latin inscriptions on the back or sides of his mirrors.

Sometimes one finds that optics were made by the very best makers, who have left their initials on the optics.

When disassembling optics it is actually important to mark where the lens elements should go.

Your photos of the guts of the binocular are very interesting - thanks for sharing. I owned an example of this binocular some years ago and was truly underwhelmed. No phase coating, dim images and a tendency to lose collimation at the slightest jarring would be a caution to spending a lot to bring this one back to life.

Hi,

not sure if taking it apart has helped... I would not have dared to - especially if it was off to a pro anyways.
Regarding warranty - the serial number dates this bin sometime in 1981 so even a 30 year warranty would be over - even if the company producing them did still exist and the warranty indeed did cover obvious abuse like fungus in a non-waterproof bin...

Remember over here in europe there's no such thing as lifetime no-fault warranties...

That being said - the high prices for good notarems are probably more due to them being collectible than being great bins. It is after all a roof bin without phase coating and dielectric mirrors and might or might not be multicoated - they started in 1979 I think but I'm not sure if all bins got it at the same time.

Joachim

Well, it didn't help, but I was curious and couldn't help myself

I was careful enough, not to damage anything. But considering it didn't cost too much and also, since I planned to have it repaired, if within reasonable cost, I said to myself, why not

There are not too many information regarding Notarems online and there are certainly no photos, showing it from inside. So perhaps they will be of value to someone else.

So today I packed the bino into a ton of bubble wrap and off it went to Germany Can't wait to hear, what the experts say.

chartwell99 said:

Your photos of the guts of the binocular are very interesting - thanks for sharing. I owned an example of this binocular some years ago and was truly underwhelmed. No phase coating, dim images and a tendency to lose collimation at the slightest jarring would be a caution to spending a lot to bring this one back to life.

Click to expand...

Tnx for sharing your experience and for the advice. I was thinking along the same line. If it's still economically justifiable, I'll have it repaired. Otherwise they'll go to ebay for someone elso to take care of them.

My primary goal for near future is owning small, light and fairly robust bino to accompany me on my mountaing wanderings... I tried to find old Bushnell Custom Compact 6x25 or 7x26, but they are really rare in Europe. And then this Zeiss hopped in unexpectedly. So I don't know. Will see what the future brings

Well, it would cost 200 EUR (120 EUR labour + 80 EUR parts) to have it repaired. So if someone wants to have a shot at it, he can have the binoculars for 50 EUR

Specification:
2,5 hours of labour
1 x prism
1 x roof prism
2 x ocular mount
1 x small parts

Zeiss Notarem is very unfamous for their collimation stability. There are quite a handful of technicians in UK who can strenghten the prism and do a cleaning job.